Hanging Colin Kaepernick Doll Spotted in South San Jose

Someone spotted this offensive display outside a San Jose Costco last week.

Days before Colin Kaepernick settled his collusion grievance against the most powerful sports league in the nation, one of our readers spotted a racist effigy of the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback right here in San Jose.

It was close to 11am Feb. 12 when she reported seeing it in the parking lot of the Almaden area Costco: a plush Kaepernick doll hung by a chain-link noose on the back of a gunmetal gray 2005 Nissan Titan pickup. The observer, who asked to remain anonymous to protect her privacy, said the depiction of racial violence shook her to the core.

“Simulating the lynching of a black man who peacefully protested violence against people of color is racist behavior that cannot be tolerated here or anywhere in this country,” she said. “It’s absolutely shameful that whoever is driving this truck is fine with this public display of racism and hate.”

Many such hateful representations of Kaepernick have ignited headline-grabbing backlash in communities throughout the country.

Last fall, to name one example, a Placerville barber publicly apologized after a photo of a Kaepernick doll hanging from his shop ceiling went viral. The proprietor, known to locals as the Bowtie Barber, said he hung the likeness in 2016 after Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem to protest systemic racism and police brutality.

“I literally had no idea that I was offending people,” the barber told a Sacramento-area Fox News affiliate at the time.

Oh, really?

We have no idea who affixed a noosed-up Kaepernick to the pickup photographed in south San Jose last week, so we can only wonder whether he or she would make similar claims of ignorance. But while Kaepernick’s biggest detractors try to frame their displeasure as some kind of patriotic defense of the troops and the flag, images like this make it hard to believe that it’s about anything other than race.

48 Comments

> Days before Colin Kaepernick settled his collusion grievance against the most powerful sports league in the nation, one of our readers spotted a racist effigy of the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback right here in San Jose.

Are you daft; you don’t see racism in hanging the representation of a black person by a chain on a truck? This kind of “apologist” BS has got to stop. That is racism at its core! And if you don’t recognize it, you are part of the problem, but we always knew that based on your previous posts.

You’re a very primitive person, Rich. You’re still living in 10,000 B.C. in the era of shamanic tribalism. More than a primitive person, I would say you’re a racialist head case suffering from a form of Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

Even though you’re not black, you want to appropriate black victimhood for yourself.

After reading threw the comments, it occurred to me that these people didn’t know American history or they never saw a black man hung from the neck, dead. I have, as a young person 1st visiting and then growing up in the south. You saw that from time to time. Burned, mutilated hung bodies of black men. This country has a history of this behavior. Trying to use maga hats and any other example to try and equalize this is moronic at best. Because hundreds and perhaps thousands of blacks died in this way. But I don’t recall any black mob hanging white men in this way. Maga hat wearing or not. So that a false argument. But not just blacks, but Native Indians, and Lation’s as well. If you can ignore the act by saying we don’t know the intent, the intent as always been the same without deviation. Your just to stupid to care to know. Once you have witness this in real life, you understand. In lue of that, read a book.

To echo SJOTB’s request, please do. I lived in a small town in SC during the 50’s and early 60s. Recall one flyer for the KKK (that most whites found deplorable and attributed to outsiders). Tuskegee tracked lynchings until 1959 when they stopped due to rarity. The only hanging bodies I recall were hogs and deer being gutted. The white and black kids went to different schools, but we often hunted rabbits and squirrels together.

The Tuskegee document referenced in Wikipedia’s article on Lynching in the United States covers 1882-1968, not 1958. The list includes 13 dead since my birth year of 1949. The last lynchings counted were in 1964, which were, I assume, the three CORE Freedom Riders, Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner. I was in high school then and remember lots of coverage in the papers and nightly news shows. Lynchings wouldn’t have been something that large numbers of families would have celebrated in person in the 1950s and 60s, as they did from Reconstruction through WWI, but some had many witnesses and others were photographed and widely known.

Skip, suggest reading the actual Tuskegee report – not just the Wikipedia summary. The last reported year is 1968. There have been lynchings since then. From a practical standpoint lynchings virtually stopped since 1959: 1 lynching and 6 years from 1960-68 with none. !964 had 3 (Goodman, Chaney, Schwerner).

The point being that the “strange fruit” claim by Timothy Thomas doesn’t seem consistent with the data. His claim seems even more extraordinary given that the lynchings occurred in widely dispersed areas that he claims to have seen. But the claim might not stretch credulity if he conducted the lynchings.

I would tend to agree with you that impact does take precedence over intention. If we look at Fair Housing or other discrimination frameworks, the burden of proof is on the accused side to show that they were in fact not discriminating. The logical impossibilities of proving a negative aside, this calculus does seem to have found a foothold in our collective culture.

I would also argue that another insidious concept has taken root, one that states racism is prejudice plus power. I think this is referred to as the “sociological definition”, but to say this is not the underlying societal dynamic is to be intentionally obtuse or at best disingenuous.

Using this analysis I would argue a couple of points. One, that Colin Kaepernick holds a completely dominated position, politically, socially, and economically, over whoever owns this vehicle.

Mr. Kaepernick has the attention of the President, Congress, and almost all local officials in this country; he has over 2M followers on Twitter; and he recently re-up’ed his contract with Nike. He just agreed to a settlement with the NFL, with reports ranging from just over $10M to just under $80M. Rihanna and other musical acts refused to play the Superbowl at his insistent. A Colorado business just went bankrupt because they wanted to boycott his Nike apperal. If you go against Mr. Kaepernick, your business will fail, if you try to silence him, you will lose in court, if you don’t do as he insists he can destroy your career. Why else would Rihanna not play the Super Bowl, which is 70% black (and mints 100’s a black millionaires a year) and is the apex of American TV culture? One reason, Mr. Kaepernik.

The poor individual who put this effigy behind his car is finished. Assuming the facts fit the narrative, this individual is a less educated, low income, conservative white male. In the Bay Area, this is an underprivileged minority. The reality is this person has no political power, little social significance, and likely little wealth. This person with the effigy is invisible and has ZERO impact other than to be dumped on by a hateful society.

Actually, less than that. As we have seen recently, famous black actors have used the current cultural reality in an attempt to get more money and fame. Why would Mr. Smollett pay to be beaten and have a noose purposely hung around his neck? Because it pays huge dividends. Your “Progressive” society, with its obsession with false white supremacist narratives, is so ready to hate white men that he (almost) correctly played the percentages. To position yourself against conservativeness (MAGA is the new white hood), maleness (future is female) and/or whiteness (cancel whiteness) is monetizable in real terms and profitable in political and social terms. Period.

So to maintain consistency with the structural realities of American Culture, the driver of this automobile can’t be racists since the driver has negligible power and impact compared to Mr. Kapeernick.

He is not racist but this whole story is making it that way. You guys are pretty stupid. Your writing a story about a picture and person you know nothing about. If it was a noose it would be a rope tied that way. It’s just rivalry.

Gee whiz I was very offended by Mr. Kopperdick’s inflammatory and racist behavior, so I quite watching anything to do with the NFL. Apparently so did a lot of other pro Americans to the point the NFL told these people to get out of sight during the National Anthem it was costing the league money . This brought fans back to the TV set this year.

If this anti American behavior returns, you can bet the fans will go back to watching old John Wayne moves on Sunday.

If you were as concerned about why he was taking a knee, which hurt no one. And about actual Americans being hurt, perhaps he would have not need to take a knee. But to call what he did racist has no basis in fact, tradition or history. What he did was far more pro-American then to stop watching something that cost you nothing to do. You remind me of many of those southern whites who said the same thing about MLK.

This truck and effigy have been around for months if not longer. IIRC, I saw it not long after Nessa’s 2nd stooge launched his campaign. (Her first stooge, BTW, was Aldon Smith, but his drinking problem derailed her sjw plans and led to a locker room outburst when she cheated on him with 7).

Hanging in effigy has been around since the 1600’s. It’s a common form or protest, seen even in BLM anti-police protests. It’s also a form af free speech. Just because it was done to a black figure does not mean it is inherently racist. It would have to be based on his intent, since there is in fact a legitimate form of protest present.

Lynching black people has a significant racist and shameful history in the US. Given a) what Kaepernick was protesting, b) the fact that he himself is African American, and c) this act was a symbol of a lynching, I find it to be entirely unacceptable. Like Jenn said, impact takes precedence over intention.

Hey there is a great series right now; viewable on PBS, Channel 9; in honor of Black History month. You have heard of this thing, this concept — called history? You know; doomed to repeat it if you remain with your ignorant head in the sand? You might want to watch it…….. It would explain, in great, eloquent detail; why ANY black man, hanging in effigy, is NOTHING BUT: RACIST. The program, FYI, is called: “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross”.
It is an excellent documentary. You might learn something.

It has nothing to do with what you term ‘liberal’ views.

It has to do with the social, economic and political struggles, and (atrocities) that African Americans have endured, and, successfully conquered in our country’s history. It is the history that you maga morons never learned in High School. — You know, in ‘the land of the free (some freer than others, & the home of the brave.)

Well…I’m probably the only respondent that attended segregated elementary and middle schools, attended the March on Washington, am a former NAACP member, and helped raise money for voter registration by Chaney, Schwerner, & Goodman when they stopped in DC on their fatal southbound trip. The film “King” pretty accurately portrays them.

Nevertheless, I support the right to hang effigies, use offensive language (such as mega morons), burn flags, and other “speech” provided under the first amendment.

To the extent there is racism, it applies more so to the 49ers since they failed to uniformly enforce the contract, “Club employs Player as a skilled football player. Player accepts such employment. He agrees to give his best efforts and loyalty to the Club, and to conduct himself on and off the field with appropriate recognition of the fact that the success of professional football depends largely on public respect for and approval of those associated with the game.” The truck driver claims he had no racist intent, the 49ers were obviously concerned about perceptions.

Hurling invectives, virtue shaming, suspending university professors that use offensive language as part of a classroom exercise, and related behaviors don’t result in the society many of us want. If anything it steels resolve against those that censor. Many political scientists now believe this resulted in Mr. Trump’s election.

Rather than watching TV, perhaps tutoring kids at the African American Services Agency would be more effective.

Im sure glad I didnt see it. I would not want to have been “shaken to the core” like the fragile viewer. Perhaps they should refrain from watching any worldstar hip hop videos of racist ghetto violence!

Question: Had the doll been an effigy of DJT wearing a MAGA hat, would SJI have reported it with the same enthusiasm? Or would the story been swept under the rug with a typical explanation such as: “Oh…that person is just exercising their 1st amendment rights…they’re not urging violence against DJT…it’s just freedom of speech!”?

For the record: I’m not a Trump supporter, nor am I a Kaepernick hater. I’m just an independent voter observing the hypocritical convenience many folks are quick to utilize/call out when political views do not align with theirs and vice versa.

Your site is called *SAN JOSE* Inside. There have been no lynchings here in 85 years. That’s FOUR generations, and the last one was of 2 Caucasian criminals. The Bay Area is widely known for its’ diversity and tolerance… not discrimination against Blacks and certainly not lynching them!

Stop being sensationalist for the sake of ad clicks- do a journalists’ job honorably or not at all.

Good catch. Jack Holmes and Harold Thurmond were not convicted before their 1933 lynching. But they had confessed to killing Brooke Hart. Not certain from a hair splitting epistemology standpoint if they should be classified as criminals. In common usage, they are – as are Hitler, Mengele and others that evaded trial.

They used to lynch horse thieve and cattle rustlers and traitors too. This effigy seems to be a white guy, with no tattoos wearing # 7.
A quick check on the 49’s roster indicates this must be an effigy of Matt Barkley a white guy with no tats. So would that still be racist, offensive, or perfectly acceptable with the anti white leftist crowd?

Huh, more shock news promoting racial tension. Great job SJI! So how would you classify this as newsworthy. Apparently the person who took the picture and reported the incident anonymously was too bashful to give her name and her claims are questionable at best. Who knows, maybe it was her car and she is in fact the “racist”. Stop promoting racial divisiveness and report newsworthy stories.

> The list includes 13 dead since my birth year of 1949. The last lynchings counted were in 1964, which were, I assume, the three CORE Freedom Riders, Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner.

.. . .

> In the United States, lynchings of African Americans, typically by hanging, became frequent in the South during the period after the Reconstruction era and especially during the decades on either side of the turn of the 20th century.

I would say that Chaney et al were “murdered”. I would not have called it a “lynching”, which as Wikipedia says is “typically by hanging”.

Our crack reporter doesn’t seem to know the difference between a ‘noose’ and a chain. Is she seeing a different photo than I am?

Also, why can I hang Tom Brady in Effigy and not Kaepernick?
We have something called freedom of speech in this country.
It is the ‘hate speech’ that needs to be protected the most.

I’d like to challenge the author to look into a few things that seem to be ignored by her noble profession:

Three years ago there was a brutal home invasion robbery in Redwood Estates (and high speed car chase) that resulted in the murder of two people. The primary suspect has been in jail since then and the press has not uttered a peep about him or the case. There remains a deceased person who has not been publicly identified. Does anybody know who this person is? Do authorities even know? If so, why the secrecy?

Our dear Sheriff has a little scam going on called the ‘Sheriff’s Advisory Board’. It seems this group raises funds for our dear Sheriff OUTSIDE normal public funds. How is this ethical? How is this allowed to happen and why are members of this Advisory Board the only ones who can get a concealed hand gun permit from our dear Sheriff?

The press also seemed to go really quiet after the Sharks announcer was stabbed, nearly to death, by a mysterious femme fatale in his own home. That story, oddly enough, disappeared very quickly with no arrest announced that I remember.

Why is it that the press seems completely uninterested in who these Antifa Clowns are? Do you already know? Have you been told not to look into them?
They are a dangerous threat to our free speech. Yet, it seems far more important to focus on an NFL clown who can’t get a job.

So, Jennifer, I just gave you four slow, fat pitches, right down the middle of the plate.

@ashbless: Yes, the difference between a noose and a chain when it comes to lynching in the good ol’ USA is that first comes the noose, and then the chain, dragging the body behind the pick up truck. Funny thing is, in this case, the chain was (appropriately?) tied to the back of… a pick up truck.

Regarding your comment about freedom of speech, keep in mind it’s not absolute. Fire in a theater is not protected. And some forms of hate speech, too, can cross the bounds. They’ve been demarcating those bounds successfully in Germany since 1945.

The doll is clearing hanging from the chain, not being dragged.
So which is it? Is the doll being hung or dragged?
You and the author seem to be reading a lot into a simple act of somebody hanging a sports figure in effigy. Do you have any idea of who the owner is and his(her) motivation?
Would it change the narrative if it turns out this person is a minority?

You are right about Germany:
Throwing someone in prison because they have an unpopular view celebrates free speech.
Specifically, those who deny the Holocaust. As vile and stupid as that is to me, show me on the Kapernick doll where it hurts you or anybody else.
Why don’t we throw those who deny climate change in jail or flat earthers?

Trolling?
A spectacular home invasion, a double homicide and the Press, DA’s Office and the Sheriff couldn’t get that story off the front page fast enough.

Please, if Wadsworth has anything to say about this blackout, I’d like to hear about her reasons.
Maybe she is this close to dropping an in depth expose that will win her a Pulitzer on this particular case.